Friday, June 17, 2016

Facebook Messenger Has a New Home Screen to Lure You Away from Apps | WIRED

Meme-of-the-week candidate: the "post-app Internet"

"Facebook wants to make Messenger the app to anchor a post-app Internet that lets you do everything within a chat. Need an Uber? Summon it through Messenger. Need to make a restaurant reservation? Let a chatbot do it.

Facebook took another step toward that goal today by giving Messenger a new twist on a familiar concept: the home screen. Instead of the infinite scroll of conversations you’re familiar with, the Home tab organizes Messenger into recent conversations, favorites, active users, and messages awaiting a response. A handy shortcut also reminds you about any Facebook friends celebrating a birthday today. “We’re hoping this helps extend and open up the functionalities of Messenger to more people,” says Facebook product manager Andrew Song."